frequent
typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts);
damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence

Environment - current issues:

air
pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance
on coal produces acid rain; China is the world's largest single emitter
of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels; water shortages,
particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes;
deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since
1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade
in endangered species